Royal Challengers Bengaluru half-pressed the self-destruct button but a blazing fifty from captain Faf du Plessis had enough torque to take them to a four-wicket win over Gujarat Titans in their IPL match in Bengaluru on Saturday. Du Plesiss (64, 23b, 10×4, 3×6) and Kohli (42, 27b, 2×4, 4×6), who added 92 runs in just 35 balls for the opening wicket, were in prime touch as Royal Challengers got past a weak target of 148. , braving some nervous moments, most of them their own creation. The win also lifted RCB to seventh place on the table with eight points from eleven matches, and kept their mathematical chances of making the play-offs alive.
Du Plessis and Kohli handled the boundaries as the home side scored 92 runs in Power Play, which featured 10 fours and seven maximums.
Both Du Plessis and Kohli were harsh on all GT bowlers as the latter started the batting with two sixes off pacer Mohit Sharma in the first over.
Du Plessis was in no mood to play the role of a sidekick as he waded into left-arm pacer Josh Little with a sequence of 4, 6, 4, 4 in the second over, making a total of 20 runs.
The Titans introduced IPL debutant left-arm spinner Manav Suthar hoping to at least contain Kohli, but the ploy was foiled in spectacular fashion.
The RCB talisman showed his increasing comfort against spin as Suthar hit two consecutive sixes.
Du Plessis reserved his penalty for Mohit, who he rounded for four fours in the fifth over as the South African reached fifty in just eighteen balls before falling to Little.
From then on, RCB entered a phase of struggle as they lost centurion Will Jacks, Rajat Patidar, Glenn Maxwell and Cameron Green of the last match between the sixth and tenth overs for just 20 runs.
Little (4/45) and spinner Noor Ahmad (2/23) were the main perpetrators as RCB fell from 92 for 1 to 112 for five.
Ahmad soon saw off Kohli when RCB were 117 for six, but Dinesh Karthik (21 not out, 12b) stayed cool under pressure as RCB registered their fourth and third straight wins of the season.
Before RCB batsmen joined the party, their bowlers came up with an immaculate effort on a supporting pitch to bowl GT to a modest 147.
There were some good partnerships – 61 between David Miller and Shahrukh Khan and 44 by Rahul Tewatia and Rashid Khan – but the Titans missed that one big innings or a stand that could have given them a firmer grip on the match.
In fact, they looked distinctly unable to accelerate even in the Power Play as their top-order batters struggled against RCB pacers, Mohammed Siraj (2/29) and Yash Dayal (2/21), who maintained a beautiful length.
That GT managed to hit just two fours in Power Play was proof enough of their struggles and the accuracy of RCB bowlers.
The Gujarat side's Power Play score of 23 for three was the lowest in the bracket this season, and this was mainly due to Siraj's dominance up front.
He consumed an out-of-form Wriddhiman Saha with a fine outswinger who swung the GT opener to Dinesh Karthik behind the stumps.
Shubman Gill soon followed as his attempted swat to Siraj's onside took the lead and ended at deep point in the hands of Vysakh Vijayakumar.
Green took the third wicket for RCB in the Power Play when he bowled Form B Sai Sudharsan, whose weak pull close to the body was smothered by Kohli at mid-on.
Miller (30, 20b) and Shahrukh (37, 24b) did their best to drag GT out of the woods with a quick alliance of 61 runs off 37 balls for the fourth wicket.
Miller, who was fortunate to be dropped by Karn Sharma on Green's 23, played archetypal power shots.
He punished leg-spinner Karn with a pair of sixes – a pull and a loft over extra cover – but fell to the same bowler when Maxwell collected a miscued heave deep.
But a bigger misfortune awaited the visitors as Shahrukh, who backed up a little too far from Rahul Tewatia's soft drop, could not beat a delivery from Kohli to the non-striker's end.
For the sixth wicket, Tewatia (35, 21b) and Rashid (18, 14b) added 44 off 29 balls but the latter's desire to be innovative against Yash Dayal saw the ball crash on the stumps.
Tewatia, who punished Karn for 18 runs (4, 6, 4, 4) in the 16th over, departed soon.
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